


Your Young Heart

by wintersoldierarcherspy (ilovemyalpaca)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Fluffy Angst, M/M, bucky is just worrying, but literally no one is underage, coffee because this is Clint Barton, magic de-aging, pool side chats, some discussion of underage, they talk about sex but it doesn't happen in the fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-12-26 15:16:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18284909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilovemyalpaca/pseuds/wintersoldierarcherspy
Summary: He was standing really close to Bucky so the shot that was meant for him was going wide and like hell was Clint just going to stand there and let Bucky take a hit for him. So… Jump, Deaging, Magic, and now Clint keeps looking in the mirror to see a face he hasn’t seen since his circus days.





	Your Young Heart

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Turn Back the Clock](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1561445) by [Bluandorange](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluandorange/pseuds/Bluandorange). 



> Vaguely inspired/influenced by Turn Back The Clock by Bluandorange because that was what I spent days pouring through and so it was in my brain when I saw the pic for mandatoryfunday.  
> I lied when I said this was porn. The feelings got in the way.  
> Also, this is sort of late but it's not midnight yet where I live so better late than never, I guess?

Clint is too old for this shit. At least, that's how he feels about the matter. The problem is, everyone else thinks he's too young for it. Which, Jesus, yeah some of them are practically geriatric but there’s at least six superheroes younger than him that he knows personally. For some reason, they’re all fretting over the latest development, despite Dr. Strange telling him it should wear off in like 48 hours. The general consensus seems to be that Clint doesn’t deserve this kind of stress, he’s such a precious baby now, and while, yeah, Clint is grumbling about it, he’s probably not on the same page as everyone else. 

He's not saying he deserved to get hit by a magic deaging ray but he may have mouthed off at the villain of the week and he may have jumped in the way of Bucky getting hit because the wizard-whatsit couldn't aim for shit. He was standing really close to Bucky so the shot that was meant for him was going wide and like hell was Clint just going to stand there and let Bucky take a hit for him. So… Jump, Deaging, Magic, and now Clint keeps looking in the mirror to see a face he hasn’t seen since his circus days. God, he can’t pinpoint exactly how young he actually is but it’s somewhere between 17 and 23, he thinks. That’s what it feels like anyways. He’s pretty sure he’s younger than the twins now. It’s fucking weird. 

And the worst part is Bucky apparently thinks so too. After the initial concern had worn off-Fine, lessened, because Bucky was pretty much always concerned about Clint-Bucky had been keeping his distance. Not a hand hold or a peck on the cheek. Every time Clint had called him Babe or anything other than his name, the other had flinched. And Clint had gotten so annoyed he’d started avoiding him right back. Which fucking sucked because post-mission cuddles had kind of become their thing and Clint missed them. Plus, it hurt for his boyfriend to suddenly not want anything to do with him. Like maybe Bucky was reconsidering it all. It was dumb to think that but hey, no one had ever accused Clint of being smart. Or emotionally stable. He didn’t think he was terrible looking but maybe this younger, admittedly twinkier version of Clint wasn’t doing it for Bucky. Maybe he finally had just gotten tired of the walking disaster that was Clint. After all, none of the others had gotten whammied. He was really working himself into a good woe-is-me mood by breakfast time. If Clint was going to have a pity party, it might as well be a pool party. 

At least, that’s what he tells himself as he sips coffee from a real mug at the pool. He’s staring out across the water, kicking his feet lightly in the shallow end. He maybe should have bothered to get dressed before wandering around the compound but honestly, the amount of times the rest of the avengers and avenger-adjacents had seen Clint naked was a fairly high number and at least he had on boxers this time. Clint is still contemplating the general suckiness of his life when Bucky appears. Clint doesn’t look at him but he knows it’s Bucky. He knows he pauses because he didn’t expect to see Clint there and then steps forward with a certain amount of determination. All Clint can think is ‘it’s about time he realized he’s better than me.’ Bucky was always going to break up with him anyways, right? Clint wants to blame the warlock guy but it’s probably just Clint. 

“Just get it over with.”

This seems to give Bucky pause because yet again, he stops. Clint can feel the weight of his gaze, can hear the confusion when he says, “What?”

“You’re going to break up with me. Just do it.”

Clint doesn’t hear Bucky move, doesn’t hear him so much as breathe, and he almost checks his aids but then, he realizes the trickle of water is still getting through. So he finally looks up at his boyfriend. Bucky looks… not good. Which is weird because Bucky always looks good, even when he’s dressed like a hobo and kind of smells like one too. Clint frowns a little deeper and huffs out an annoyed noise. “What’s wrong with you?”

Bucky blinks back to himself and sits down next to Clint without answering. He’s wearing a t-shirt and those tight boxer briefs that Clint likes so much and he just stares out at the water. After a moment, he scowls and sighs heavily. 

“I’m not breaking up with you. Jesus Christ, Clint.”

Clint takes another sip of his coffee. He wants to ask what this is all about but he’s still not convinced that Bucky isn’t going to break up with him. He’d barely looked at him since the whole magic thing. 

“I-” He starts, then stops, then starts again. “You look good.”

Clint takes his turn with the blinking and the confused, “What?”

“You look good. Like this. Um… all.. Young and shit.” 

Clint feels his brows crinkle and he drops his gaze to the dark liquid in his hands. “You’re avoiding me because I look good? Not because you’re breaking up with me?”

Bucky makes a strangled noise, frustration evident. “No! For fuck’s sake, Clint, I’m not breaking up with you. I fucking love you! I’m avoiding you because you look amazing and as much as I love when you’re all thick and grizzled and older, you look… soft. Young. Sweet.”

Clint grins, a little bit teasing now that he’s understanding what Bucky’s saying. “A twink. You like it that I look like a twink.”

Bucky rolls his eyes but doesn’t correct him. “You look like the world hasn’t quite got its hooks in you and I want to hide you from the world and make you feel good as much as possible before life goes on. Protect you. And yeah, make love to you.”

Clint feels warm from his toes up and it only has a little to do with arousal. Bucky loves him. Wants to _protect him_. Wants to _make love to him_. It makes him simultaneously horny and happy and he’s pretty sure that’s the textbook definition of love. 

“Okay. So do it.”

There’s a bit of chagrin around Bucky’s eyes and the corner of his mouth when he doesn’t respond. Clint is kind of over this skirting around the real issue here. 

“Bucky. I love you too. I missed having you holding me last night. I want you to fuck-sorry, make love to me, too. What is the hold up here?”

Bucky smiles when he meets Clint’s eyes and it’s the private one that he reserves only for Clint. The archer is lost all over again. Jesus, he loves this man. 

“I wasn’t sure you were legal. Still not. You look like you’re still a teenager. I mean, you’re old enough. Obviously. But what does it say about me that I want to put my dick in you when you look like a kid?”

The snort that comes out of Clint at that is absolutely ungainly and unattractive. He has to set his coffee cup down before he spills it as he turns slightly to look at Bucky. He understands where Bucky is coming from now that he’s gotten an explanation out of him. It makes him love him even more, concerned about Clint even though he’s not going to be traumatized by his boyfriend having sex with him. They do it pretty regularly as it is. But Bucky needs reassurance and Clint glances down his own body for some way to help with that. And then he sees it. 

“Okay. Look. Pretty much every scar I got later in life is gone. He literally turned my body back to the state it was in when I was 21. Wanna know how I know that? This scar right here.”

Clint points to a v shaped scar right above his elbow on his left arm. It’s faded considerably at his current age but right now, with his body looking 21, it’s bright white against his tan skin. 

“Got it on my 21st birthday. I was drinking with Barney and a couple of the acrobats and I tripped over a tent stake. Cut it on a broken bottle. If it’s here, then I’ve got to be at least 21. Which is legal, even way back when you were a young whippersnapper. So… are we good? Over the crisis of conscience? No more avoiding and can get back to the acting like rabbits?”

Bucky’s eyes were brightening, excitement painting them an even wilder shade of blue throughout Clint’s explanation. Now he laughs and reaches over to shove at Clint’s face, careful not to dislodge him and cause him to fall in the water. 

“God, why do I love you again? You’re lucky you’re wearing your BTEs or I would’ve dunked you.”

Clint laughs and pushes Bucky back, standing and grabbing his mug. He looks over his shoulder. 

“Hey, first one back to our room gets to bottom.” 

Clint laughs heartily as Bucky doesn’t even make to stand until the blonde breaches the sliding doors. He should’ve known Bucky would want his bubble butt. He’d already sort of implied he wanted to do the work. It doesn’t stop Clint from running toward their room. The sooner he gets there, the sooner they can get started. He wonders how many times they can do this before his body switches back. If he remembers correctly, he had way more stamina back then. And he could come more than once before he passed out. This was going to be fun.


End file.
